The Personal Emergency Response System (PERS) market is almost a billion dollar market. 99% of this market is owned by the monitoring industry. In known systems, a user carries around a pendant with a button that causes a base station located in the home to dial the monitoring company when the button is pushed. When the monitoring company receives the call, it receives a digital code from the base station which designates the ID of the customer. The base station then hangs up. The monitoring company then has a person call back to the home phone number of the matching customer to see what the problem is. If the customer can answer the phone—they can explain the emergency. If the customer cannot answer the phone, the monitoring service may call another number on the list of numbers and eventually may call the local police or ambulance service. In some products on the market now, the base station does not hang-up, but engages a speaker phone when the emergency call center picks up. This allows the monitoring company to talk to the person directly without calling back. The big drawback with this arrangement is that it requires the person to be in the same room as the speaker phone base station to communicate.
Some such systems require monthly monitoring fees (e.g., $30 to $50 per month), and often customers who push the button are not able to answer the next incoming call from the monitoring service—and thus unable to explain the nature of the call—medical, police or fire. Thus, the monitoring service often sends the police which may not be the need.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/955,327, filed Sep. 30, 2004 describes a portable, single-button transceiver that includes a speaker and microphone. The transceiver, when activated, causes a corresponding base station to dial the 911 emergency operator, without the need for a monitoring service (and its associated fees). This single button reduces complexity, which may be important for an elderly person in a distressed situation. The transceiver then allows two-way communication between the transceiver and the base station, thus allowing the customer to directly talk to the 911 emergency operator. The person can therefore describe the nature of the emergency.
US Patent Application Publication 2003/0027547 also discloses an emergency communications system including a wireless pendant and a base unit connected by a radio link.
Another company, Telemergency, has a ‘no-monthly fee’ product. It, however, includes a speakerphone in the base station. Thus, after a user pushes the emergency button, the system is less effective if the user is not within voice proximity of the base station since the user cannot communicate with the emergency operator.